Agitation will continue till land is restored: Samiti to Centre

Jammu, Aug 9 (UNI) Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharh Samiti (SAYSS), an amalgam of several outfits spearheading the agitation in Jammu, today conveyed to the Centre that the protests will continue till the land is restored to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) in south Kashmir.

The samiti delegates, headed by convener Leela Karan Sharma met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil-led Central delegation that arrived here today on two-day to assess the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

''The talks remained inconclusive, but were positive and have opened a door for more initiatives,'' Mr Sharma told reporters after the meeting.

He, however, said there was no concrete proposal with the Central delegation.

''I don't consider this meeting as a dialogue or talk. The Centre's delegation had come to take stock of the situation which we have given to them,'' Mr Sharma said.

For initiating talks to resolve the issue, he said ''The samiti is ready for that but the Centre should come out with a 'blueprint' for holding dialogue.'' The samiti made it clear to the visiting team that restoration of the land would only be the solution to the issue, which had persuaded the people in Jammu to come out on roads.

The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and Mr Patil listened to the samiti leaders ''carefully and very patiently'', the convener said.

''Mr Patil has assured that he would apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the situation in Jammu as well as our stand,'' he said.

Reacting sharply to the statements made by the leaders and media in Kashmir, Mr Sharma said, ''It is a propaganda to mislead, people in Jammu are not communal and the issues of 'economic blockage' is totally baseless.'' ''Kashmiri leaders are communal and they don't want Hindus there,'' the samiti leader said, asserting that many judges and magistrates are fleeing the valley because of communal threats.

The samiti had earlier refused to hold discussions with any Central delegation having National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief Saif-ud-Din Soz as its members.

The Centre's 18-member delegation, headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, was also briefed on the situation in curfew-bound Jammu region, which is witnessing massive protests on Amarnath land row.

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